Opinion

An excellent commentary by Don Blankenau, a Lincoln, Neb. attorney, who also has a degree in natural resource management, demonstrates the close relationship between mass and illegal immigration on water resources.

“The United States has the most liberal immigration laws in the country; currently we have 1.25 million people enter the United States yearly.”

A late campaign has cropped up to unseat three justices from the Iowa Supreme Court who are up for retention on the November general election ballot. We have seen at least one sign urging citizens to vote against retaining Justice Mark Cady, Daryl Hecht and Brent Appel on the high court for their decision in favor of gay marriage. In 2010, three justices were voted out for the opinion in the darkest day of state judicial history. Politics trumped justice.

I used to think that great churches were towers of Babel built to mesmerize the masses and gratify the powerful, when Jesus held the Last Supper in an upstairs apartment downtown. I would think Jesus would prefer we congregate in a gray steel building much like our office, with broken-down furniture and a sleeping dog. He walked with the dispossessed, after all.

I am honored to serve in the Iowa judicial system and now on the Iowa Supreme Court. As your chief justice, I have worked to support the Constitution, the rule of law, and the people of Iowa. Iowans now have the responsibility to vote on my retention.

I began my judicial career as a district associate judge in Fort Dodge, inspired by the hope of helping others and transforming injustice into justice. Those hopes and aspirations have followed me through the ranks of the judicial system to my present job. My commitment to justice has never wavered. It has only grown.

With all of the information concerning the upcoming election, I hope that we all remember that next week is also important as the time we honor our veterans. Veteran’s Day has always been important to my wife Sharon and I, since both her parents served in the Navy and my dad served in the Coast Guard during WWII. However, since my retirement in 2009, I have had the opportunity and honor to serve as a volunteer driver for the BV County Veteran’s office, taking veterans to medical appointments in Fort Dodge, Des Moines, Spirit Lake, Sioux City, Carroll, Omaha and Sioux Falls.

Alan Blinder, esteemed Princeton economist and former vice-chair for the Federal Reserve, wrote in The Wall Street Journal this week that the electorate is not so upset about the economy as it is political gridlock. He notes surveys showing increasing optimism about family economic prospects as the economy steadily improved over the past eight years following the Great Recession. Even families with household incomes below $15,000 see better economic days ahead.